Fields of Gold
by LexSleuther
Summary: She could tell they were all there for him in his heart, and she would be there by his side. Previously called 'Golden Grass' but I changed the name
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: Okay let's just assume that Juvia and Wendy make their way to the Avatar HQ and break Natsu and Lucy out of imprisonment, and they are now trying to find Gray and attempting to get out of there. I wrote this at four in the morning so excuse my sense of logic and typos._**

**_I couldn't think of a good way to open this so sorry about the beginning._**

**_(Excuse my terrible way of naming stories. Tell me if you have a better name)_**

She stood her ground, not budging an inch, not letting their attacks reach her whatsoever the whole time. Her water was boiling with determination, her opponents didn't get within five meters of her and her friends. Lucy and Natsu stood behind her, their hands still bound by the anti-magic chains but they were still kicking and hammering all they could without using their powers.

She didn't care about the fever, she didn't care that she felt like her legs would give way any second now. The thought that the amount of enemies in front of her might be too much never even dared to cross her mind. All Juvia could think of was how she could only see the colour grey, and the raindrops that fell in buckets obscured her vision but that didn't stop her from her goal.

Somewhere along the way, Natsu and Lucy had managed to get across the courtyard, and had taken a bunch of the cloaked enemies with them. Now, Juvia stood alone in the middle of it all, chest heaving, dress torn and muscles aching with exhaustion. She felt faint, but all the pain suddenly felt far away when she saw the figure approaching her.

"Gray-sama!"

She wanted to run over to her long lost prince, to hug the air out of him and never let go, but she stood where she was, not bothering to stop the tears of relief running down her cheeks.

"What are you doing here Juvia? Leave now!"

That wasn't what she expected to hear. A small crack emerged in her heart at his words but it didn't matter. She had found her Gray-sama and he was okay.

All of a sudden, a searing pain ripped through her body like a knife. She clutched her stomach and groaned, sinking to her knees as the pain tore through her whole body. She felt as if someone had poured acid through her veins, like a thousand wasps were stinging her insides, she felt faint and her vision went blurry with the agony.

"Juvia!" cried Lucy.

"Juvia-san!" She heard Wendy's voice somewhere off into the distance. Then, another giggly female voice.

"A rainwoman hmm? How perfect," the girl giggled. Juvia barely made out a female figure stepping in front of her as she lay on the ground, "my poison will run quickly through your water body, you'll be quick to snuff out."

"Mary! Stop!" Juvia perked slightly as she heard Gray's rough voice call out, before her consciousness slipped away from her.

Suddenly, she was standing in a field. A field full of…wheat? No, it was grass, but the grass was _golden. _Shimmering in the intense sunlight. A rough breeze flew through the endless looking field, kissing her cheeks softly, and there seemed to be no one around.

Juvia looked down and noticed that her shredded clothes were gone, and she was wearing yellow, japanese style robes, with golden cherry blossom designs along the long sleeves that covered her hands. _Where is Juvia? _She thought.

"Ah, you must be Juvia."

The blunette turned to find the sound of the voice and stopped short. The woman had short cut, black hair, a slender figure, wore similar robes to Juvia's and looked a lot like…

"Ultear-san?" The woman chuckled softly and smiled, she had a warm smile.

"No no, you're thinking of my daughter." At these words, Juvia felt her breath catch in her throat, she stared openly at the woman in front of her, her mouth agape and her azure orbs wide.

"U-Ur-san…Gray-sama's teacher…"

"That's me. And you're the infamous Juvia I keep hearing about?"

"Uhmmm…" the younger girl couldn't process any words, so she just nodded meekly. She was so confused, she had no idea where she was and why she was wearing these robes and why she was talking to her Gray-sama's dead teacher who somehow knew about her- _wait_.

"Is Juvia dead?" The sad look on the older woman's face spoke for itself. Immediately, Juvia started panicking.

"Juvia _died? _Oh no what will happen to Gray-sama and the others? Of course they are strong without Juvia but Lucy-san and Natsu-san are still unable to use magic! And Wendy-san can't fight for very long on her own! What will Gajeel-kun say when he finds out Juvia's dead? Will Gray-sama miss me? Juvia is only eighteen she's too young to die-"

Ur placed a palm firmly over her mouth to shut her up. Sighing deeply, the woman explained, lowering her hand "You're not properly dead, Juvia." Her voice was more firm and to the point and her expression was hard and cold, completely different from the warm motherly impression Juvia had gotten from her earlier.

"You are on the verge of dying though." She pointed her finger upwards, "The breeze isn't normally that strong. It's trying to take you back." Juvia relaxed slightly, but not completely. She was still dying.

"What should Juvia do?" She asked nervously. How would she get back to her friends?

"There isn't much you can do." Ur shrugged. "I suppose you can sit and wait to see what happens."

"O-okay."

Ur began to walk in one direction and Juvia decided to walk with her, since there didn't seem to be anyone else around. The ice mage didn't protest, in fact, she smiled at the younger girl.

"I've heard quite a bit about you you know."

Juvia blinked at the woman. "How have you heard about Juvia? Juvia's never met you before."

"I suppose I'm partly responsible for that." a gruff voice sounded. Both girls turned around and Juvia felt her heart stop and a dozen painful memories flooded through her mind.

"Silver-sama?" She barely choked out. Here, in front of her was Gray's dad, the very man she had been forced to kill. And even though Gray had forgiven her for it, she still couldn't have stopped the nightmares and the heartache that haunted her. She had taken a life, and not just any life, the man she loved had lost his father, because of her.

"It's nice to see you, Juvia-chan." He gave her a hearty smile, as if he wasn't looking at his murderer and actually walked up to Juvia and hugged her. All before whispering in her ear. "Thank you so much. I wouldn't be here without you."

At those words, Juvia burst into tears on his shoulder, she felt so embarrassed and tried to stop but it seemed impossible to control her stream of tears. Silver simply patted reassuringly on her back and hugged her tighter before pulling away.

"J-Juvia is sorry…"

"No need to be. You made me happy, Juvia-chan, and now," he gestured behind him, and Juvia noticed a woman about the same age as Silver standing behind him, with white hair similar to Mira's flowing in the wind behind her, she too wore golden robes, and had a sweet smile upon her face. "now I can be with Mika."

"Gray-sama's…mother…" She was so beautiful, and Juvia realised that Gray had inherited her smile. But Mika seemed more open to giving her smiles whereas a genuine smile like this rarely came out of Gray.

"Silver wouldn't stop talking about you, Juvia. He went on and on about you fighting the necromancer, and you and Gray doing a unison raid at the Grand Magic Games." Ur placed a hand on the blunette's shoulder. Juvia was still crying but she began to smile now.

"Ehh? Silver-sama saw the games?"

"Oh yeah, I watched the whole thing from far. You two seemed so close, forgive me for thinking you were his girl." Juvia felt a fresh blush adorn her cheeks at that comment.

"I feel so sad that I never got to see my little boy grow up." Mika inquired, "What is he like as a teenager, Juvia?"

"Gray-sama is wonderful. Before Juvia joined Fairy Tail, she was part of a dark guild of some sorts," she paused, looking around to see if any of them gave her a look of disapproval, none of them did and so she carried on: "Back then, the rain followed Juvia wherever she went, and Juvia couldn't do anything about it. But then Gray-sama…" She smiled to herself at the memory of their first battle, "Gray-sama sealed Juvia's darkness," She noticed Ur's eyebrows raise at this, "and brought light into Juvia's life. That's when Juvia knew…" She stopped herself.

"That's when you knew what?" Silver asked, he looked like a child listening to a story, wondering what happens next.

"That's when Juvia knew…that she was in love with Gray-sama." The blunette finished.

A silence settled upon the group, only the rough rustling of the golden grasslands could be heard. Then, slowly, a bright smile set upon each of the older persons' faces.

"I knew it!" Silver practically yelled.

"Oh, you two would be a cute couple I'm sure." Mika giggled.

"Does he know about your feelings?" Ur asked, with a raised brow.

"Well yes, but Gray-sama doesn't think of Juvia in that way."

"That boy doesn't realise how lucky he is to have a girl like you who's there for him. Oh don't worry sweetheart. I know Gray and from what I've heard, he seems to like you a lot." the ice mage said, "That kid doesn't let anyone that close unless they mean something to him."

"Juvia."

Mika approached the young blunette slowly, and took her hands in her own. "Look after my little boy for me? I know I haven't seen him since he was a kid, but I can guess he can get himself into trouble a lot."

"Got that right." Ur mumbled.

"Juvia promises to do her best." The girl couldn't surpress this warm feeling that bloomed in her chest. She may be close to dying, but she was here with her Gray-sama's family. She was meeting the very people who brought up the man she loved, and, even if she may never see him again, she would always be there for him, just like Mika, Silver and Ur. The whole scene just made her teary eyed again.

"Aw come on, girl. Don't cry again." Ur stepped forward and wiped her eyes, then, she thought for a second before taking something off her wrist.

"You know what? Take this." She gestured for Juvia to give her hand and the water mage did so, Ur put something on her wrist and stepped back as the new owner examined it. It was a bracelet, made entirely out of ice, but the ice had been moulded so it resembled frozen teardrops.

"Gray made it for me for my birthday once. He claimed that it was just a small ice-make trinket but he wasn't very powerful and I could tell how long he'd worked on it."

"Ur-san, Juvia can't accept this…"

"Nonsense, girl. I'm sure Gray wouldn't mind. It's simply a sign that you're one of us now. Believe it or not. You're a part of our family too."

The ice mage stepped forward and hugged Juvia, and this time both of them felt tears coming on. Before breaking apart, Ur whispered something in her ear. "Do something for me, tell Gray I said: 'I love you.' Tell him exactly how I said it."

"Yes, Ur-san." Juvia felt the wind pick up again, this time so powerful that her hair flew into her face and her dress flapped around her ankles. She felt the world tilt again and watched as the three adults in front of her smiled, the breeze didn't seem to affect them at all. Mika latched onto Silver's arm and whispered something to him, causing him to chuckle before yelling out "Remember! I want 33 grandkids Juvia-chan!" Ur crossed her arms and simply nodded towards the blunette. Juvia smiled brightly at all of them before feeling her feet leave the ground and a blinding light engulfing her, like she was being swallowed by the sun (she really hoped that wasn't the case). Her consciousness left her once again, but this time, it was more like drifting into a relaxing sleep.

_It's nice to know that Gray-sama's family are always here for him. Supporting him like that. Juvia will do the same for as long as she lives._

Ur, Mika and Silver let their waving hands drop by their sides, all standing in comfortable silence.

"Is she gone?" A voice called out from behind them.

Ur turned and smiled at the short old man approaching them. "Yeah, she's gone."

"Good."

"May I ask, why didn't you want Juvia to see you? Wouldn't it be nice for her to see a familiar face?" Mika questioned.

"I don't want her knowing what happened to me. She'd tell the others, and I don't want them mourning for me rather than fighting to get their guild back."

The three others nodded understandingly.

"I suppose a lot of thanks goes to you too, Master. Without you, I don't think Gray would've found happiness if he hadn't joined Fairy Tail." Ur said.

"And he certainly wouldn't have found Juvia-chan." Silver added cheerfully.

Makarov chuckled and stared off into the clear blue sky, even if he had passed on and left the world behind, he'd never forget Fairy Tail and his children who drove him crazy every day.

_Let's just hope they don't destroy all of Fiore without me there. _He thought.

**A/N: Okay so yeah, as much as I want to deny it, I really believe that Makarov has passed on. It would leave room for Laxus' character development cuz he'll be the next guild master right? I think Natsu'll find out that Makarov died and then go looking for Laxus to tell him or something.**

**THERE WILL BE A SECOND CHAPTER. It's fresh in my mind, I just need to write it okay? The next one will be from Gray's POV and I don't know when I'll publish it because I'm busy with school but It'll most probably be published before the next chapter of ISYA (i really need to work on that one).**

**R&amp;R? This story makes sense right?**

**~Alexa**


	2. Chapter 2

Gray couldn't completely express what he was feeling in words. It felt as if his heart had just plummeted into the earth's core and he had lost the ability to breathe.

The ice mage watched as the blue haired girl in front of him sank to the floor and lost consciousness. Her whole body went still and Gray could only fear the worst. Mary was hovering over Juvia's body, laughing manically and then turning to Gray, offering the most devilish smile he'd ever seen.

"She didn't even put up a fight. She doesn't deserve to live, not as an unbeliever in Zeref, am I right Gray? This rain woman won't be here to bother her '_Gray-sama' _any more." a sweet but acidic tone dripped from her lips.

Gray remained silent, a bunch of guards had come out of nowhere, grabbing Wendy, Lucy and Natsu who yelled and struggled against them, calling the ice mage for help. But he remained staring at the body on the floor thinking that she couldn't be dead, she isn't dead, she's still alive because_ Juvia isn't supposed to die. _He had purposely kept her away and didn't tell her about his plan so he could keep her safe.

Just then, the ever beating rain began to get lighter, until it was a small drizzle. Gray held his breath, he had never wished so hard that the rain wouldn't stop, it won't stop. Because if it stops then Juvia would be dead and Juvia isn't dead she's still alive she _has_ to be…

The sun broke through the clouds and the 'pitter patter' went away. Lucy gasped, Natsu growled and Wendy sobbed.

All Gray remembered from then on was the rush of pure rage running through him as he shot a shard of ice straight towards the poison mage, who was still laughing. She dodged out of the way last minute but failed and got clipped on the ribs. She too collapsed on the ground, blood seeping out of her right side. Gray pounded his fist into the ground and black ice surrounded the whole group, blocking out all the guards save the two who held his former guild mates.

"I can heal her! She's not dead!" Wendy wailed desperately, she tried to break free from the steel grasp the guard had on her, but the guard held firm. Mary slowly began to get up, but immediately halted when two more ice shards landed inches away from her.

"Move and see what happens." Gray threatened. The girl shivered at his words and stayed put.

"Gray! Just let me heal her! Please! I can do it!"

"Wendy…" Lucy sobbed.

"Let her go." Gray commanded. And the guard released her.

The young dragon slayer ran full speed and knelt next to Juvia's unconscious body, tears slipping uncontrollably down her face. She hovered her hands over the water mage and was about to chant when the poison mage called out hoarsely.

"Don't listen to that traitor! Kill the girl!"

The guard darted towards the sky dragon slayer, and Wendy felt a rush of desperation and anger flush through her as she turned round.

"I. Just. Want. to HEAL HER!" She yelled as a gush of wind, strong enough to knock an elephant over, pulsed through the air around the girl, effectively blowing everyone back up against the ice wall. Natsu groaned as his head hit the wall and Gray winced as his shoulder came into contact with the hard ice. At that point he was pretty sure his arm was broken as the pain shot through it and he was unable to move it.

Wendy knelt down next to Juvia once again and concentrated her energy on the older girl. The dragon slayer didn't want to believe she was dead. She ignored how the water mage's skin was paler than usual and that she didn't show any signs of breathing. She didn't think about the deathly poisonous feeling that hung in the air while everyone watched as the healing began. The only sound was of Mary groaning in pain.

_Please, Juvia-san. Don't die, you can't die. Please stay alive. For your nakama…for Gray-san._

Gray watched intently as well, wishing the same things. The pain was still coursing through his arm but he could fix that later. The real pain was the slow cracking and breaking of his heart, barely keeping together as he watched Wendy stand up slowly, wiping tears from her eyes and letting her bangs fall in front of her face.

She shook her head sadly and his heart finally shattered.

He felt like the earth was falling out of the sky.

Juvia was dead.

That wonderful, beautiful, kind-hearted, selfless, crazy girl died, instead of his sorry excuse for a man.

There were so many things he had never gotten to say to her. She had died thinking he never returned her feelings. She died when their last encounter was a mixture of fear and confusion. He had left her for six months and she had gone without giving him time to explain.

Gray simply stared at the young girl in tragic silence. Lucy finally gave in, tears running down her face. Natsu was the only sound that could be heard, yelling that she wasn't dead, that she was still here that…

"I can still smell her!"

Lucy looked at him in confusion, and the pink-haired dragon slayer explained. "People lose their scent when they die. And Juvia hasn't lost hers yet! It's very faint but I can still smell her!"

"Just…stop, Natsu." Gray muttered, not wanting any false hope. But deep down, he really wanted Natsu to be right. If Juvia was still alive…no. He couldn't get his hopes up, not when the evidence was clear in front of him. Juvia was dead, just like all the other people he had ever loved.

Five minutes. Six minutes. Ten. Fifteen. Forty five. A whole hour had passed with no one talking as Wendy healed Gray's arm and treated the bump on Natsu's head. The moments after the tragedy were a blur to the group as Mary fainted from blood loss, and the guards were simply the punching bags for the team to let out their anger and frustration on, especially Gray. The silence hung like a cloud of poison in the air as if no one was able to open their mouth. Then, a miracle happened.

A roll of thunder sounded in the distance.

The sky darkened.

It started raining.

Immediately, all four mages looked up with hopeful eyes. The back of Gray's mind told him that it could've just been natural, but he didn't want to believe it. He embraced the cool touch of the raindrops on his skin.

Then, a weary voice: "G-Gray-sama…"

His head shot up so fast he almost got whiplash, and he turned to see the blunette, still lying on the floor, smiling weakly up at him with unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

Gray felt his heart restart again and wondered if it was him who had died instead, as the rain slowly vanished once more. This time, he welcomed the sunshine with a relieved smile.

#####

The group had set up camp in the thick forest outside the Avatar base. They had left in a hurry and knew that the Zeref followers would most probably be looking for them, but they were in too bad of shape to travel any more. Juvia was still weak, and tired from all the fighting and, not to mention dying, getting almost suffocated by hugs from Lucy and Wendy and then hiking into the forest for an hour before almost collapsing from fatigue. They were all tired so they just decided to set up camp and rest for a bit.

Gray sat by a stream in silence, watching the moonlight dance on the waves as they slipped past the pebbles in the water. The scent of dew on the soft grass that he felt underneath his fingers comforted him and the small breeze that had been blowing since nightfall ruffled his dark spikes. He had long since returned his hair to normal when Lucy had told him how terrible he looked. Honestly, he only put it like that to see how much he could get himself to look like his father.

The ice mage's thoughts ran through the events of the day. They had beaten Avatar and arrested the whole to mention Natsu kicking some godly ass. That was a nice touch, Gray still couldn't believe how much strong everything had gotten. Lucy had her star dress form stuff, Natsu could melt practically anything, Erza somehow had gotten even scarier over a year and even Wendy had improved more! He couldn't wait until they got back to Magnolia and could catch up again. He hadn't seen anyone in so long…

_Except Juvia._

She had practically fainted with delight when he asked her to join him in training a year ago, and they had ended up living together in Rainfall village for six months. He didn't want to have to leave her without saying goodbye, but Erza told him it was for the best. At that moment, Gray had made a silent vow to make it back to her somehow. But it seems that wasn't necessary, for _she_ had found _him_ instead.

They hadn't spoken a word to each other since she came to. In fact, hardly any words were exchanged during their walk and setting up camp. Everyone was either too tired, or too deep in thought to talk. Natsu, Lily, Charle, Happy and Gajeel had fallen asleep back at camp, Wendy was healing Lucy's wounds, and Levy and Erza were out looking for food. Gray had escaped to the solitude of the stream after checking briefly on Juvia when she was asleep. He hated seeing her like that: Weak and broken. She looked as if she had seen a ghost, and she kept on mumbling something about grass and breezes or something as if she was having a nightmare.

The ice mage got up slowly, getting ready to go back when he suddenly felt two pale arms wrap around his waist and someone hug him from behind.

"Juvia is sorry if she worried Gray-sama." Her voice was muffled as she spoke into his back.

"Ah no it's cool. You only gave me a heart attack for an hour or so." He replied sarcastically.

"…Juvia was worried about Gray-sama, that's why she asked Wendy-san to bring her here. Juvia wanted to make sure Gray-sama was okay."

"Juvia, you almost died. You actually _did_ die! Do you know how much we suffered during that hour that you were gone? I thought it was all over…"

"But Juvia is here now," She tightened her arms around him, and he realised that for once he didn't mind the contact, "And, trust me, Juvia wasn't very happy about dying either. She really wanted to stay alive."

Gray chuckled, and cracked a smile, a real smile for the first time in so long. He looked down at the two hands linked together in front of his stomach, and noticed something reflecting the moonlight and twinkling on her wrist.

_Wait…is that…?_

"Juvia…" He spun around and grabbed her wrist with the bracelet on, causing her to stumble back a bit. "Where did you get this?" It was a coincidence right? There's no physically possible way she could have gotten _the _bracelet. Perhaps this was just a similar one? But the thought was very weak, he could feel the familiar magic radiating from it.

"Ah yes, Juvia…met some people while she was dead."

"You…met…people?"

"Juvia got to speak with Gray-sama's family. With Ur-san, and Gray-sama's parents."

Gray didn't have the courage to speak then, for fear of what he might say. So Juvia continued on.

"Gray-sama's mother really wished she could see you again, and Father looked happy to be with her once more."

_She saw my mom? _Weirdly enough, Juvia's story didn't sound strange at all. Gray had heard about these near death experiences before.

"A-and Ur-san…" He could see some tears form in Juvia's eyes as she explained to him what she saw. "Ur-san wanted Juvia to remind you. She told me to say that she says 'I love you'."

Those words woke him up immediately. The entire time he had trained with Lyon and Ur, she had never actually said those three words. She was more the type of person who showed her love rather than talk about it, which is why Gray had problems saying it as well. Hearing Juvia say this on her behalf, on any other occasion, would've angered him. But for some reason, this felt genuine, real, as if he could hear Ur's voice whispering alongside Juvia's, both truly meaning what they were saying. It sounded stupid, but that was the only way to explain it. Juvia's story didn't sound strange at all to him. He'd heard about these near death experiences before.

The next few seconds went so fast that he didn't even have time to think about what he was doing. Before he knew it, Juvia was in his arms and he was hugging her into his chest as he tried to stop from crying, whispering the words over and over again, whether she heard them or not. He felt as if the gates holding them in were finally opened, Ur had pretty much given him permission to say it.

"I love you too…"

He hugged her tighter to ensure she heard the last word.

"_Juvia."_

_**A/N: FINALLY. This has just been sitting on my laptop for weeks now. Blame the exams.**_

_**R&amp;R?**_

**_Thank you to BlueKoalaBear, hanako-sempai, agirlworthfighting4, Baby pink 'n Baby blue and Shinji777 for reviewing! And special thanks to Bubblycutie for pointing out my mistake, I've fixed it now :)_**


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